Not to be outdone by an expert Japanese chef (see Food fight! below), I apparently promised the kids that I could prepare and throw food far better than anyone else.

This promise was almost certainly fuelled by the fact that I had imbued too much Saki and Japanese beer Asahi.

Much too much...

When I was reminded of this promise the first thing the next morning I had several options:

Deny all knowledge of my promise and bow to the superior skills of the Japanese chef.

Ignore the kids as my muggy head belonged to a worse place. Their little mouths were moving but no sense was coming out.

Smile, climb down in to the kitchen and act the clown for the next 30 minutes.

With Gina's Delia Smith cookbook as my only friend, and with my now coffee-fuelled instincts I managed to rustle up a large batch of impressive pancakes.

However, it was clearly lacking something as my diners weren't that impressed. You would think that to create some delicious pancakes for breakfast would satisfy their demands. But no, apparently the night before I had promised them flair, skill and acrobatics....

Let the food fight begin...

Even Gina got involved:

With honour restored, a quick snooze was definitely in order. Japanese chef indeed!!